it's sad after this is "over" (once momentum dies down) ppl will go back to their daily lives patting themselves on the back like yes thats enough activism for today. and I'm thankful for those who weren't performative with it but again once it dies down people can go back to what they were doing before but I can't stop being black.
i wake up and im black, I go to sleep and I'm black, i eat and I'm black, and I drive and im black. I eat with my family and you know they're black too. black lives matter isnt a trend for me and it's not something that solely comes to play when the death of a black person gets wide media coverage and the images or video of their death is spread around in the way a white person's isnt.
what I'm saying is that black lives matter is not a brief thing for me, I cannot tear off this black skin and live without fear of the police killing me or killing my brother or killing my mother or killing my father. I was driving yesterday, and there was a cop car at the intersection. I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm exactly at the speed limit, I'm paying attention to my surroundings on the road but I tense anyways.
why? Because I am a black girl every second of my life and this cop at the intersection might be the cause of me laying six feet under and you raising your voice for black lives after months of ongoing silence.
i have had this trauma since I was 7 years old and my dad sat me down one day and said people will hate you for looking like me, do you get it?
if I have had to carry this pain since I was a grade schooler who should have just been skipping rope and not learning that someone's hatred for the color of my skin could be my death sentence. then I think you can carry black voices, support black businesses, and listen when we say black lives matter...every moment of the year.
can you do it? can you continue when momentum dies down? can you call yourself an ally to the black community not when its popular?
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
jbbartram-illu
germansingergirl
